Initiative, referendum, and recall … do we need them?

By The InkDemon

My friends and relatives on the West Coast used to send me e-mailed petitions. None is valid here in Texas. In fact, Texas is only one of nine states that does not have recall as part of the Constitution. Texas does not have initiative either.

Texas is one of a few states that does not have recall.

Why? Texans have a long distrust of their elected officials. That feeling came out of the Reconstruction era. When Texans finally re-gained control of their state in 1870, they wrote the present Constitution. It is one of the wordiest documents in all the 50 states. practically noting can be done by the Legislature without a state-wide referendum.

Recall was not considered; but if it was known, this blogger is sure it would have been included. Of course, elected officials can be kicked out of office for misconduct. That is left up to impeachment. State officials have been impeached, too. This blogger recalls a Supreme Court Justice Donald Burt Yarbrough, who was indicted for malfeasance and run out of office in the 70′s before he was impeached. The Legislature impeached Gov. James E. Ferguson in 1916. No other governor has been impeached.

Ferguson’s story was unique because his wife, Mariam, later ran for governor and was elected.  They billed themselves as “Ma” and “Pa” Ferguson – Two governors for one vote.   It was a laugh.

Initiative is what generates that annoying e-mails from the West Coast. Out there, they can get up a petition and make almost anything into a law. In fact, California’s state constitution has so many initiative-inspired changes that only about 40 percent of their budget can be changed without a Constitutional amendment. That avenue was attempted a few years ago, but California voters turned it down.

Texas Republican Gov. William P. Clements proposed Initiative and recall when he was governor. The Democrat legislature rejected it.

Recall can get bad officials out of office. However, as we see in Wisconsin it was used to stop officials from making needed reforms. The United States and the 50 states run as republics. That means we the people choose our officials, and the elected officials conduct government. If they are honest, then they should get an opportunity to serve their terms.

Initiative and recall moves the state towards a democracy and the whims of the populace. That was what the founding fathers feared the most.

An angry Ron Paul libertarian say he will opt out of presidential election; Is this good news for Obama?

By The InkDemon

Libertarian Ron Paul voters are angry that their man did not win the in the Republican Primary. In fact Paul did not make the runoff. Now, like this blogger, they advocate dropping out. This could spell good news for Obama and the Democrats.  Read this blogger’s reasons:

The Lesser of two Evils?

By Dave Mundy
manager@gonzalescannon.com
Posted June 7, 2012 – 8:01am

There are a lot of folks who like to say that if you don’t vote, you’ve got no right to complain about the results. I beg to differ.

Why bother to vote when everything has already been decided, and your vote wouldn’t have mattered?I didn’t vote in last week’s party primaries — primarily because I’m not a member of either of the two major parties, although I certainly have a lot of allies among the Republicans and certainly tend to lean that direction on a lot of issues.

I have in the past voted in the GOP primary — which put me on a lot of mailing lists this election cycle — but I can’t say I’m a card-carrying Republican. In light of Tuesday’s results, I feel that’s probably wise.

Read more: The ‘lesser of two evils’ is no longer a valid choice | The Gonzales Cannon.

Was Ted Cruz another tea party mistake?

By The InkDemon

U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz of Texas belongs to a law firm that is representing the People’s Republic of China.

This story is about an American inventor Jordan Fishman who patented a new kind of tire to be used in mining. The San Antonio Express-News reported:

In the late 90s, Fishman created a new kind of tire that contains a three- inch layer of rubber on the outside, enabling it to withstand the punishment that comes from working in confined spaces.” (Gilbert Garcia, “Patent Lawsuit Haunts Senate Candidate,” Plaza de Armas Blog, www.plazadearmastx.com, 9/28/11)

After Discovering His Tire Blueprints Had Been Stolen, Fishman Filed A Lawsuit Against The Chinese Company In 2010, & The U.S. District Court Ultimately Sided With Fishman & Awarded Him $26 Million In Damages.

A jury in Virginia sided with Fishman and awarded him $26 million, the E-N article said.

The E-N article continued:

In An Interview, Jordan Fishman Said Cruz “Had A Choice” Over Whether To Take The Case. “Whether Cruz was hired directly, or his firm was hired and asked him to take the case, Fishman said Cruz had a choice of whether to work for the company. ‘He is the lead attorney. And he accepted, and he had a choice,’ Fishman said.” (Peggy Fikac, “Star Of Anti-Cruz Ads: It’s Personal,” Houston Chronicle’s “Texas Politics” Blog, 4/24/12)

As A Result Of The Theft By The Chinese Company, Fishman Was Forced To Lay Off More Than 90 Percent Of His Employees In The U.S. “But Fishman said his company had 45 people in the United States, and now has only one and half employees – including himself.” (Peggy Fikac, “U.S. Senate Ads: Fact-Checking Fighting Words,” Houston Chronicle’s “Texas Politics” Blog, 5/15/12)

The question is whether this is a David Dewhurst attack advertisement or a legitimate news story that has caught Cruz red-handed. This blogger thinks it is the latter. The inventor had to lay off 90 percent of his employees.

This is not the first time a Texas elected official has represented foreign interest over American workers. This blogger worked for 27 years in information technology. This was a career field that was critically short of qualified people. As a result wages were astronomically high. American employers — one of them was Ross Perot — devised a scheme to bring in qualified workers from India to fill the gap.

Soon these companies went further. The started replacing their American workers with Indian contractors who would work for half the wages. The Indians flooded into the country in the late 1990′s. Then the companies like J.P.Morgan & Co. started to move their operations to places like Mumbai, India, where their hiring practices were less visible. Many American high-tech jobs dried up.

This blogger called Rep. Sam Johnson’s office many times. Rep. Johnson’s office defended the program. Meanwhile, Americans with Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science are working at curio shops or as Wal-Mart greeters. Rep. Johnson likely will be re-elected. So who is he representing? Is he representing Perot and people like him or the voters … the workers?

Rep. Johnson’s web site says he is a Vietnam war “hero”. The blogger asks: If sitting in a Hanoi Hilton for four years makes one a hero, then what is three-time Ace Robin Olds? In this blogger’s opinion, when one calls oneself a “hero” it leaves a foul odor in the air.

So will Cruz defend American jobs if he is elected? His record says otherwise.

Bexar County voters reject extremism, elect Straus

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus soundly won his bid for re-election by crushing his tea-approved opponent, Matt Bebee.

Straus garnered 67% of the vote, according to the Texas Secretary of State official totals.

Charges of anti-Semitism marred the contest. The political forum Liberty Linked poured its effort into the race. Cathy Bean, whose Facebook page has said that she works for Liberty Linked, sponsored block walks in Straus’ District 121. The district runs from the center of San Antonio up through the old suburb of Alamo Heights to northeast Bexar County. Meanwhile, the forum board sported symbols of Latinos being beaten by Anglo armies. One member and “friend” of the board was using the handle “Nathan Forrest” which brings up images of Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Locally, a less extreme political group, Voices Empower, aligned with Liberty Linked to oppose Straus. Alice Linahan leads that group.

The Conservative Election Alliance on Liberty Linked on Wednesday still displayed an image of Texans fighting Latinos. Aligned with the Conservative Election Alliance (CEA) are:

• North Texas Tea Party
• Collin County Conservative Republicans
• Golden Corridor Republican Women
• Plano Republican Women
• Frisco Tea Party
• African-American Republican Club

A few weeks ago, the CEA listed Amigos de Patriots, a Latino tea party group. When this blogger asked the founder of that group if she was indeed aligned with the CEA, she said she was shocked. She asked that her group’s name be removed. It was removed.

The Straus-Bebee race drew international attention, mainly due to the charges of anti-Semitism involved. The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and British-based Reuters wrote many articles on the race. As a result, Texas in general and North Texas in particular was painted with the extremist label.

Straus will have no Democrat challenger. He has support from the House Democrats. He is sure to repeat as Speaker of the House.

One issue Straus is sure to pursue is casino gambling for Texas. Straus’ minions will bill gambling as the “panacea” to cure Texas’ revenue shortfall. This blogger predicts that the gambling interests will claim that casinos will generate enough revenue to make up for the shortfall. Will casinos mean instant revenue? You decide.

Will the casinos be concentrated in the resort areas of South Padre Island, Galveston, existing horse racing venues, or inside Texas municipalities? Another possibility for a gambling mecca is the Texas side of Lake Texoma.

Things we don’t need … or want

By Jay Goode

Louisiana Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has endorsed the “tea party”.

Sorry Davy! We don’t need your endorsement. In fact, the Texas Tea Party Alliance is handing it back. Take it and put it where the ….

I do think we are the first to tell Mr. Duke we don’t want his endorsement, too!

Looking out at the search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, the tea party movement is under attack by the media propagandists. The principle is “A lie told 10,000 times becomes the ‘truth’”.

There are skin heads and old-style KKK members in North Texas and in certain areas of East Texas. Some may have infiltrated into the tea parties. A quick search on Google brings up numerous Southern “patriotic” groups in North Texas. Many may be well-meaning. Still one cannot help but wonder: Are they a hot-bed of hatred? I don’t know. You decide.

There is one blog website in the area populated by a few haters. One person boasts that he is the great, great, great, great grand-nephew of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. read more The “nephew” boasted to me, that he was “proud of Nathan Bedford Forrest”! A search of Facebook will turn up “persons” touting Nathan Bedford Forrest. Obviously, his legacy remains with us — like it or not!

The same web site has or has had images that can be construed by many as pure hate. Was it intended to be hate? The author denies it. The image shows a Texan rabble army riding through a Mexican village. The villagers are shaking their fists at the rabble. Is this just “harmless” chest-pounding or pure hatred? You decide. How can we ask Latino voters to come to our side if we do this? You decide.

The Texas Tea Party Alliance has steadfastly stood up against hate when it has been proffered or suggested. Our web site was victimized in a cyber attack intended to silence us.  Was it an attempt to silence a moderate tea party group? 

This is no time for hate.

The same web site that I spoke about above boasts a blogger who once blogged that the presumed Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney is unfit to be president because he is a Mormon. In this blogger’s opinion, it was pure hatred. The typography was in red underlined font for the entire article.  My response to this blog expressed my feelings.

On the East Coast, an Evangelical preacher has a special concentration camp where he wants to put homosexuals. He even put it on video. He was soundly condemned in the media. He should have been!

Whenever the Bible is put up as a reason to hate and fear in politics, that side has usually lost. I hope these people will look introspectively, actually read the Bible, and put hatreds out of their hearts.

Dewhurst up by 9 points

A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll shows Senate candidate and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst up 9 percentage points for Ted Cruz in a recent poll, Reuters reported Friday, May 25.

This may be good news for Cruz, who is the victim of Dewhurst’s media attack advertisements. If Dewhurst’s name recognition can’t propel him to victory in the primary, then Cruz certainly has a chance to edge him out in the runoff. There most certainly looks like there will be a runoff.

Read it in Reuters:

(Reuters) – A U.S. Senate candidate in Texas with Tea Party backing may win enough votes in Tuesday’s Republican primary to force a runoff with the state’s lieutenant governor, setting up another battle for the soul of the national Republican Party.

Twice this year an insurgent conservative Senate candidate has upended a traditional Republican – in Indiana, where a candidate backed by the Tea Party movement beat longtime U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, and in Nebraska, where first-time statewide candidate Deb Fischer defeated a veteran attorney general.

Emboldened by the victories, national conservatives have turned their attention to Texas, where they believe Cuban-American Ted Cruz could be a new Republican star.

via Tea Party takes on establishment Republican in Texas Senate race | Reuters.

Political Rancor: The Season is the Reason

 

By Jay Goode

Several urgent calls to me this week emphasized what season it is. It’s the political season of course. It’s the season of anger and discourse. There seems to be a hate brewing, too. Just read the Texas Tribune.

There is a lot riding on a number of political campaigns in North Texas. Also at stake is the prestige of the tea party. The Dallas Morning News says that Senate candidate Ted Cruz lashed out at his opponent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst over immigration attack ads. Those ads are working. It has caused Cruz to go off-message to respond to Dewhurst. This may be adding more steam to Dewhurst’s campaign. No one disputes that Dewhurst has the lead in name recognition. Independent voters hate rancor and discourse. This may drive them to Dewhurst.

Adding to the rancor are the charges and accusations in the responses to news articles.

This blogger believes that the tea party is being painted as extremist by the state and national media. The Dallas News has intimated that in a front page article a week ago when it suggested that the tea party has peaked.

One caller I received charged that there was a pattern of cronyism in some of the tea party political picks. Another tea party member admitted their picks were based on “who was the most Christian”. One of the Texas Tea Party Alliance’s picks is Jewish. None of the TTPA’s picks were based on religion alone. Who can honestly say what is in the heart and mind of a candidate?

If the tea party fails to defeat Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, where does that leave the newly elected Republicans in North Texas? Politics 101 says that freshmen lawmakers have very little impact in the Texas Legislature. Straus — if he wins — will seek political vengeance against the recalcitrant Republicans by allying with the Democrats, mostly experienced imcumbent lawmakers. He has done that before. The current political rancor will be nothing like what Straus and his liberal Democrat allies will unleash on North Texans. The media will applaud. Should we get ready for casino gambling, higher taxes, and more spending? It may not sound democratic, but that is the way politics works.

Short-sighted innuendo that Straus is unacceptable because he is not a Christian has now caused the national media to focus on the speaker’s race.

“The battle was less than gentlemanly. Mr. Straus’s Jewish faith briefly became an issue when e-mail was circulated suggesting that the House needed a “Christian conservative,” according to a New York Times article.

The liberal media continues to paint tea party Texans are right-wing extremists.

“But opponents of Mr. Straus, convinced that the San Antonio Republican is too moderate for Texas…,” according to a New York Times article reprinted from the Texas Tribune. The article points out that Straus is holding a $4 million pot in this high-stakes poker game where his opponent Beebe is practically broke. Articles like this are sure to cause more money to pour into Staus’ coffers from the East Coast and West Coast.

That’s a bad move on the part of the tea party.